Radio Times review

In the 1970s, young Danny Bakers chaotic east London home was always packed with knocked-off gear secured by his lairy geezer of a docker dad. Once, most memorably, continental quilts (that's duvets to you, young people): "It was like living in a huge bag of marshmallows," says 15-year-old Danny in the voiceover.

Baker and writer Jeff Pope have adapted Baker's autobiography Going to Sea in a Sieve into this cheerful eight-part comedy, headed by Peter Kay who ditches those rich Lancashire tones for a gorblimey cockney accent as dad Spud.

Spud always has an eye to the main chance, pinching from the cargo holds of ships he unloads at the docks. There's a funny scene when he and his mates steal a snifter from a barrel of what they think contains booze. "Trust me," says Spud, to his understandably sceptical friends.

Radio Times review

Boy Meets Girl is a comedy, but you probably won't laugh aloud. Though equally probably you might end up wearing a soppy smile, because it's a sweet, thoroughly modern love story.

Leo (Harry Hepple), jobless and still living at home in Newcastle with his parents and his slacker brother, meets an older woman, Judy, in a bar. The attraction is instant, she's funny and friendly, and Leo falls head first.

But on their first date, Judy (Rebecca Root) throws a surprise into the conversation. As Boy Meets Girl is clearly anxious to be seen as a romance, rather than any kind of trailblazer, it feels, from time to time, a bit slender. But the leads will win you over.

Comedians will help you stop smoking

If you're struggling to give up smoking for good, then maybe a stand-up comedian could do the trick? Bill Bailey, Al Murray, Rhod Gilbert and Shappi Khorsandi have joined up with Stoptober for this year's mass quit campaign next month.

Review: Ladies in Retirement

Ladies in Retirement got off to a cracking start last Friday evening - not only did the first night audience almost fill the theatre but their reactions showed that the choice of play, the casting and the acting were highly appreciated.

Cradle To Grave preview: Peter Kay is fabulous

In this charming sitcom, it's the 1970s and 15-­year­-old Danny guides us through the ups and down of life growing up in a council flat in Bermondsey.

Danny Baker reveals why he cast Peter Kay as his dad

"Peter, yes, Bolton to his boots - but he's also an actor... He always wanted to be like his hero Ronnie Barker and he has that quality - I think he's the natural heir to that sort of actor".

Elliott Kerrigan on the 'Boy Meets Girl' journey

Elliott Kerrigan talks about his experiences of making Boy Meets Girl and the people he's met along the way.

Video: How to play a young Danny Baker

Laurie Kynaston - who plays the teenage Danny Baker - and Danny Baker himself told BBC Breakfast about the challenges of transferring the book to screen.

Interview: Boy Meets Girl writer Elliott Kerrigan

The man behind the BBC's first transgender comedy reveals why he wrote it - and why his mother watched it in stony silence.

Paris Lees and Rebecca Root on Boy Meets Girl

New BBC Two comedy Boy Meets Girl stars transgender actress Rebecca Root as romantic lead Judy, who falls in love with Leo. So what does Rebecca's role mean to the trans community, including friend and transgender rights activist Paris Lees?

Rebecca Root stars in groundbreaking comedy

The first thing I notice when I meet Rebecca Root is her smile.

Sally Lindsay and Daniel Ryan interview

Earlier this year, I visited the set of Mount Pleasant in Manchester to find out what's in store as the show enters its fifth series. Here's what Sally Lindsay and Dan Ryan had to say...

TV Preview: Ruby Robinson

Ruby Robinson has plenty of laugh-out loud moments but even without them it is an elegant thing to look at, at times as much a piece of dance/mime as a piece of comedy. Ooops, I've nearly put you off there by mentioning dance/mime. Just watch it.

David Walliams previews new sketch show

David Walliams tried out material for his new sketch show last night.

Arthur Smith: The Smiffies

Time for me to announce who has won a 2015 Smiffy, the award every performer would love to receive, if only they knew of its existence.

Review: Boy Meets Girl, BBC2

One can see this winding up the anti-political correctness brigade. It may also wind up critics who may see it as painfully old-fashioned despite its unique selling point. But Boy Meets Girl does have its moments. A bit of a half-cocked start perhaps, but well worth a second look.

Cradle to Grave, BBC Two, review: 'savvy comedy'

This comedy based on the childhood of writer and broadcaster Danny Baker was niftily scripted, says Jasper Rees.

Cradle to Grave: the cockney accents are a load of pony

So far as south London capers go, this was about as funny as getting on the wrong side of the Richardsons (sarf London's answer to the Krays; less famous but just as vicious). We owe a heavy debt to the late John Sullivan and the uneven masterwork that was Only Fools and Horses: Baker and Kay failed to pay it off.

Boy Meets Girl: warm-hearted, witty and well-written

I have to say that good sitcoms have been very thin on the ground this year, with the only stand-outs being Channel 4's Catastrophe and Ballot Monkeys, and BBC Two's W1A. Those of you who read my review will know that I wasn't even particularly enamoured with Danny Baker's Cradle to Grave, however that's not true of the programme that directly follows it.

Cradle to Grave: Peter Kay stars in uneven adaptation

The main problem I had was that Baker couldn't really decide which story from his childhood to tell, so he decided to pick half a dozen.

Mark Thomas: how to be an urban trespasser

"I've always thought the city was a place for us to ramble and enjoy. I've always thought the city belonged to us. All of us."

Final thoughts on Edinburgh Fringe 2015

This year's Fringe has been a good one for TV Bomb. More reviews than ever before, more visitors than ever before, and some great new writers. By means of wrapping up our coverage, I wanted to jot down a few thoughts that occurred to me throughout August as I was wandering the Fringe, seeing shows, chatting with people, editing reviews and writing my own. They're as jumbled and all-over-the-place as the Fringe itself, and not meant as definitive TV Bomb opinion...

Boy Meets Girl, BBC Two, review: 'cliched'

This comedy featuring a transgender lead character is a big TV moment but the show was full of crude cliches, says Jasper Rees.

Danny Baker defends Peter Kay's cockney accent

Surprised by Peter Kay's 'Gor blimey!' Cockney accent in BBC Two's Cradle To Grave? Series creator Danny Baker says you'll get used to it.

Cradle To Grave review

The cast make the characters shine, particularly the empathetic Laurie Kynaston as 15-year-old Danny, and Lucy Speed, underused in episode one as long-suffering mum Bet, reduced to histrionics after stumbling across her son making out.

Review: Cradle to Grave

Danny Baker's autobiography is witty and charming, but could prove too sweet for some.

Behind-the-scenes on Boy Meets Girl

There is no agenda to our transgender comedy, but the issue still required sensitive treatment, says Margot Gavan Duffy.